want big spending cuts but no tax rate increases. here is a picture of president barack obama answering questions on twitter about the fiscal cliff. he is promoting a reference to the estimated tax increase and middle income families would see if rates are not extended, the latest would extend tax cuts for everyone including americans and who the president wants to exclude. the white house says the proposal is too short on specifics. >> we can't guess what they are, they need to tell us and they look forward to the time when they are specific with the ways we have dealt with it. >> they don't like what republicans want to do to social security and more on that during my next update. reporting live, allison burns, ktvu channel 2 morning news. >>> 5:14 in florida, they have released a photo of george zimmerman, showing george zimmerman with a swollen nose and blood did i face. they responded and said it adds nothing new to the case. the volunteer watch man is charged with second-degree murder and his trial is due to begin next june. >>> contra costa police officer was taken to t

republicans get, the republicans get the tax rates they want, the medicare cuts they want, the trillion dollars in spending cuts president obama agreed to, hundreds of billions in additional cuts, ending the payroll tax break, ending jobless benefits and they get the opportunity to create a new debt ceiling crisis in a few months. that's on the republican side, what the republicans get in their proposal. what do the democrats get in their proposal? they get this. a promise to end undefined tax deductions and loopholes of some kind at some point maybe next year. ta da! a fair and balanced middle ground. >> unfortunately, the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance. >> yes. balance. here's the amazing part, though. after congressional republicans released their plan yesterday, which gives them everything they want and promises democrats that they might get something undefined that they might want maybe some time in the future. we'll talk about it later. after they put forth that sweet deal, this was the reaction from the beltway's conservative class. this is genius. sadly, th

hand and once again it solely is because it doesn't raise tax rates on the rich. when is obama going to rise above that obsession? when will he lose that over rich people and tax rates? i don't know. tonight, i'm is going to try to call his bluff. anyway, also breaking tonight, potential catastrophe if syria uses its chemical weapons. president obama issues a stern warning to syria and i quote the world is watching. and there will be consequences if syria uses these wmds. have we just committed ourselves to another war? and the gun control debate is squarely back in the spotlight tonight after the murder/suicide by nfl player in kansas city, second amendment instead of blaming the sick people who use them. republicans have responded to a fiscal cliff counter offer to president obama. eamon javers joins us now from washington with all the details. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. leapt me walk you through the specifics or at least what specifics we have so far from this boehner counter offer and you can see where it falls short from the white house's perspective right in the t

going to have to see the rates on the top two percent go up. we're not going to be able to get a deal without it. >> reporter: in his first interview since the election, president obama rejected a proposal from house speaker john boehner. he spoke on bloomberg television. >> unfortunately the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance. i'm happy to entertain other ideas that the republicans may present. but we are not going to simply cut our way to prosperity or to cut our way out of this deficit problem that we have. we're going to need more revenues. in order to do that, that starts with higher rates for the folks at the top. >> reporter: the president did say today he would consider lowering rates again for the top two percent next year as part of a broader tax overhaul. the house republican plan envisions $2.2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade. $800 billion would come from new revenues but with no hike in tax rates for top earners. instead the plan relies on $1.2 trillion in reduced spending including $600 billion from changes in medicare and medic

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barack obama's demand for an increase in tax rates as part of a comprehend sufficient plan -- comprehensive plan to cut the federal deficit. some are looking for ways to save faces a they give in. >>> and maintenance costs, used by state lawmakers, at least a douse member of the legislature had repairs on those vehicles and repairs were made before lawmakers used them for their personal use. in any case the costs were thousands of dollars. >> only state in the country finally ended this program and they saw some abuse and they saw voters did not like the program and that it was a perk they could give up. >> starting this year, lawmakers are not issued any cars anymore instead they are. >> paid a moulin rate -- mileage rate for using their own vehicles. >>> now here is a look at items where they recently confiscated them from the burglary ring. investigators have arrested two brothers and a woman all in their 20s in connection with thefts. if your property is part of the cache look at the web link section. >>> according to a new census data, there were more than a 11 million

obama is he is a small minded president. >> steve: the white house immediately rejected the republicans' man ask said it wasn't balanced, even though it is balanced. it does actually raise revenue. democrats want the tax rates to go up. >> brian: they had a christmas party last night, the speaker and president were there. the word is they were going to talk. maybe they did. five minutes after the hour. let's change gears. prince william arriving at the hospital where kate middleton is waking up after suffering severe morning circumstanceness. what's that? >> gretchen: the condition -- is hard to pronounce. it strikes 2% of expecting moms. it can be an indicator of something else, which is twins. joining us to weigh in, dr. mark siegle. it's hyper something or another. >> vomiting, pregnant. go back to the latin. >> steve: thank you very much. >> 1 to 2% of all pregnancies have this. actually it's the number two cause of hospitalization after preterm labor. it's a big problem. morning sickness, 80% of women, everyone knows about that. severe morning sickness, when you continu

median wages actually dropped this year? >> just look at the numbers that obama uses. if you repeal the top tax rates you're supposed to make 800 billion. if you repeal the whole bill you're supposed to lose 4.5 trillion. it all went to the middle class. i got to challenge your facts on that. that went to the middle class. but do you think right now that there is a chance, i mean responding to what peter said, do you think that obama is going to cold shoulder the gop? here's why i'm saying this. let me just go one more thing. i think he's bluffing. i think the last thing in the world obama wants is a stalemate that will lead to all the taxes going up. all of them. and will lead to a recession. >> disaster. >> then he would be herbert hoofer obama and his second term and legacy would be completely wrecked. that's why i think obama is bluffing and the gop needs to counter. >> there's a distinct philosophical differences obviously between the house majority, which peter was elected overwhelmingly in 2010 and resoundingly re-elected in 2012. across the country. they have a strong voice. the

rates, president obama let the nation fall off the fiscal cliff. >> republicans need to acknowledge reality here. rates have to go up. earlier in the presidency, obama warneded it could hurt the economy. >> the nation is no longer in recession. and american manufacturing contracted in november for the first time in three months. the president is concerned enough that he proposed tens of billions in new stimulus spending in the debt talks. >> what is the justification for raising taxes? >> the fact of the matter is that it's vitally important that we extent and the president's view make permanent tax cuts for 98% of the american people. >> the president would like to see it done tomorrow and would sign it right away. >> they will put for ending deduction and closing loopholes. >> republicans move a great deal. who was the first person after the election was the speaker who went down and provided the re-knew. >> they blasted the proposal to limit deductions to tell bloomberg television it's unrealistic. >> that means every hospital and university and non-for profit, the agency. across

wonky with you. >> i haven't looked closely at this. what jumps out is the difference between obama saying he wants 1.6 trillion revenue and republicans say 800 billion in revenue. as luke said, not giving in on the issue of raising tax rates. they hold out this promise of tax reforms with loopholes and deductions. i don't know exactly how they arrive at that. it strikes me when you think back to 2010 when obama went along with extending the bush tax cuts for two more years. he was adamant back then, this is it and i'm doing it for two more years and i'm going to run for re-election and make them go away for rich americans. that's not acceptable to the white house, $800 billion from so-called tax reform. >> well, steve, i mean, you put it sole well i don't know how to improve on that. that's my first reaction, is that the absence of any l giving any ground on the rates mean we haven't moved that far here. i think that that's the key sticking point here. you know, as a matter of -- a lot of what's happening here is a duel in public opinion and the media, who looks like they're reachi

been having in this town for a couple of years about tax rates, about entitlement spending, about deficits that have topped $1 trillion throughout the obama presidency. i suspect all of them eventually are going to get settled but they aren't going to get settled at the same time, including the debt limit increase. >> john harwood, thank you. >>> let's see where we do stand on the fiscal cliff deal. let's look at our "rise above" meter. time to stop talking and start actle. we were at a half-way point, now back to a quarter on the "rise above" meter, closing to no deal than deal. >>> lawmakers trying to solve the fiscal cliff issue. police trying to solve a burglary at the home of california congressman darrel issa. according to reports, more than 50 pieces of jewelry worth about $100,000 were stolen from the congressman's home on november 29th. watches, earrings, rings, bracelets involved and what issa spokesperson calls irreplaceable family air looms. >>> to the jobs report today. super storm sandy slammed the east coast but it looks like it didn't have all that much impact on t

. unemployment for them was 10% in october. well above the national rate of 7.9%. >>> ocean beach preparing for the storm and city workers want to make sure... [ indiscernible ] we'll have that story coming up. >> and president obama's private lunch with mitt romney. what they talked about and what they ate. i play the lotto. >> get in line. soon californians will play powerball too. when the game is coming to town and who is the real winner. ,, ,, he should take somebody dancing. oh my god, him dance? have you seen his shoes? they look like, they look like flippers. [ aunts laughing ] [ male announcer ] find some peace this holiday. get an 8 piece meal now with a dozen delicious cookies baked in-store. the kfc festive feast. all for just $19.99. yes you did. no i didn't. yes you did. no i didn't. yes you did. no i didn't. did not. [ male announcer ] today tastes so good. secondhand smoke affects everyone's health. it's not just irritating. it can cause heart disease and even death. speak up about secondhand smoke. your health and the health of your family depend on it. well, insi

league faculty and staff went to president obama. congress approval rating has been dreadful but scores low marks on ethics and honesty also. new gallop poll finds members of congress come in second to last among professions beating only car salespeople. car salesman took to twitter today to express displeasure with the poll. 10% said they would give congress a high to very high rating. 34% said average. 54% said very low to low. finally when researching the internet be careful when citing wikipedia. judge in england compiled a 2,000-page report on press ethics in which he warned that inaccuracy in newspapers caused significant concern. he claimed the independent was founded in 19786 by three journalists. he apparently got two names right. the third first appeare appearea wikipedia entry a year ago. far from being founder of the paper, the man's name is the same as a self-described beach bum from california whose only edit was on that page. the error was spotted and scrubbed by wikipedia a few weeks ago, but not in time to spare the judge's error. >>> as we told you earlier, president o

employment situation improved in november. this is the first employment data after president barack obama was re-elected. the unemployment rate last month fell to 7.7% from 7.9% in october. the jobless rate has now been below 8% for three straight months. u.s. employers added 146,000 jobs in the nonfarm sector such as retail trade, professional, and business services and health care. that's more than economists had forecast. u.s. employers added 138,000 jobs in october. the officials of the labor department say hurricane sandy, which shook the country's east coast in late october, did not substantively impact the national unemployment estimates for november. >>> a legal battle between two smartphone giants, apple of the united states and samsung of south korea, rages on. the california federal district court has reopened the case over smartphone and other patents. the court has resumed a hearing before handing down its final ruling. back in august, a jury ordered samsung to pay more than $1 billion to damages in apple. now samsung is seeking to overturn that verdict. in thur's session the jud

super flowous. >> and that is a law, higher rates to go up for the 2072%, including all of you. yes. >> reporter: president obama was speaking to business leaders when he made the comment. he insists he will veto any bill not including tax increases on wealthier americans. >>> the defense department started planning for the roughly $500 billion in personnel cuts. the pin is not talking to the defense contractors of public plans. >>> the council made it clear that it's not following the mayor's lead on several issues. it was evident last night during a 13-hour meeting. the council voted against several bills. matt has more. >> reporter: the mayor appears to be concerned about the budget when it comes to a number of bills passed by the council yesterday and one thing that could put a hole is the plan by the council to lower speed camera fines. it passed last night and even though the mayor said the cameras are about safety, not mean, they generate a lot -- not money, they generate a lot of revenue and they could be close to $100 million the next four years. the mayor claims in total,

impact. >> getner says the obama administration is only too willing to go over the qulif. cliff. do they mean marginal rates, or just rates. >> that's what's going to be worked out, the last minute deal that's where you find wiggle room. >> i guarantee you there's guys in boehner's camp that are ready to go over, too. >> but he's been moving to marginalize those peel. this is his way of taking control of the party. >> the question is why do they care where the money comes from. if you have a revenue target, then fine. but we need $800 million in revenue. john wehner figured it out. and boehner can turn around and say i need $6 trillion in titlement cuts. and they can each take each other's playbook and try and figure out what they would like best to -- figure out the number and figure out how to get there. >> i don't know. both sides seem to be only too willing to do it. they're in the booking rove on fox because of that fiasco. which made good tv, but apparent apparently, i don't know, but he says republicans will get the blame for going off the cliff, but the president will be wea

rejecting president obama's proposal which includes a $1.6 trillion tax increase, a $50 billion economic stimulus package and new power to increase the debt ceiling without congressional approval. the offer featured higher tax rates for households making over $250,000 a year. a one year postponement of the sequester and about $400 billion in savings over ten years for medicare and other entitlement programs. >> despite the claims that the president supports a -- >> thousand is the time fnow is republicans to move past the happy talk about revenues, ill defined, of course, and put specifics on the table. the president has made his proposal. we need a proposal from them. >> today president obama is taking his pitch on the road. he will be visiting the philadelphia suburbs employing campaign style tactics in hopes of mobilizing the public to his side. he'll be speaking at a manufacturing facility arguing that businesses it depend on middle class consumers over the holiday season. despite all this, you see the futures today indicating higher. dow up by about 35. does that surprise you guys?

are requesting, what the heck is going on with the house and president obama. >> didn't we learn in 2011, where the government seemed less stable and our triple-a rating went down to a double-a rating and right now, john thune was right, it takes time to bush legislation through and we can't have a deal cut on christmas eve. >> is this brinksmanship on behalf of the president and time geithner, his treasury secretary, in terms of what the dems are now offering congress? >> no, i think the president has made a riegsal offer and of course, it's an opening offer, but that silence is deafening for the republicans, for the republicans' response. their political lemmings getting ready to go off the fiscal cliff and rather do that and not violate the no tax pledge they made to grover norquist than to move the ball forward and resolve this for the american people. >> is it really about that, angela and dick, is it really about the pledge that was made to grover norquist, no new taxes? we hear eric cantor saying no new taxes and we know that the dems want to have taxes on the wealthy and als

. president obama in the negotiation drew a line he had yet to draw. >> we're going to have to sew the rates on the 2% go up. we're not going to be able to get deal without it. >> been no deals of this mag magnitude made in congress and forced on reluctant president. i hope the president would turn off the campaign, congratulations, you had a great victory, and let's get serious about dealing with this deficit and debt here at the end of the year. >> back to the president's comments. he had yet before to explicitly say rates had to go up on those earning $250,000 or more. that was the white house position. that is their condition now for a deal. it's in the face of what republicans want saying no rate increases; however, a little wiggle room, and the president didn't rule out a smaller rate increase than he's calling for could be a part of a final product if they get to that stage. lizly thank you very much, rich edson. david: we have a governor who says his state takes the right action to prevent falling off its own fiscal cliff and the president can learn a lot. liz: joining us now is the

a net gain of 146,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 7.7%, the lowest in four years. to steal a little from krystal, it appears it's obama and boehner one on one. there's no i in team but there's one in win, which is why the fiscal slope negotiations are getting serious. we haven't heard yet from the president but have heard from speaker boehner. >> this isn't a progress report, because there's no progress to report. the white house has wasted another week. it's time for the president, if he's serious, to come back to us with a counteroffer. >> to further explain the nature here, we welcome you to movie metaphor club. today we clinic the fiscal slope talks to a seen from the sublime 1994 film "pulp fiction." in this diner theme we have samuel jackson's jewels in a tense tango by two small timers. >> nobody is going to hurt anybody. we're going to be like three little fonzis here. what's he like, yolanda? >> cool. >> what? >> cool. >> correct. thats what we're going to be. we're going to be cool. >> that's great. >> this is the financial whatever you want to call it in a

president barack obama. republicans want 1.2 pill caron dollars in spending -- trillion dollars in spending cuts and that's almost twice as much as what the president has proposed. they are not raising tax rates on the wealthy which the president has demanded. they are also proposing 200 billion in savings for changes by potentially lowering the costs in increasing eligibility standards. that could be a major sticking point for congressional democrats but the president needs more details but he does not like what republicans are offering. look at how house democratic national convention democrats may try to force tax rates from wealthier americans, reporting live allison burns, ktvu channel 2 morning news. >>> they are trying to make homes livable, under the program the city of new york will send contractors at no charge to homeowners. 400 project have been completed -- projects have been completed but some homeowners say the help is not coming fast enough. >>> ktvu channel 2 morning news allie rasmus is talking about the erosion and also how many drivers will be affected by this,

no breakthrough. president obama is demanding that higher tax rates for the wealthy and a permanent extension of the debt ceiling be part of a deal. >> he shows what he is really after is assuming unprecedented power to spend taxpayer dollars. >> republicans who said they are open to raising tax revenue said they will only do so in exchange for deep spending cuts. if no deal happens one casualty would be long-term unemployment help. >> christmas would be off the table. >> aides to speaker boehner and president obama met yesterday. >> we are finding out what folks in the d.c. area think about this club battle. a new poll shows that 57% of respondents believed that the president and congress will reach a deal. 78% found that both sides should compromise. >> and outspoken member of the tea party is leaving the senate. senator jim demint will leave his job in january. he is taking a job at the heritage foundation. >> you may soon be able to retire at your phones airplane mode. that is because "the new york times" reports that the faa may relax the rules on electronics. right now, you ar

the tax break? all the same stuff. same tone, same people. >> did you see this, obama is flexible on highest tax rates. >> administration official. white house officials later signaled that. he didn't signal it in anything he said. >> i spoke to a couple who were at the meeting yesterday, some of the executives, who felt, and this is like the implied feeling that he was now more willing to deal on the highest rate. >> did you hear anything about spending cuts or entitlement reform? >> two conversations are taking place. one if the public trying to get them behind you. the other is whether you're actually saying to the people you're negotiating with. and when you saw the signal, it was like, okay, maybe they'll get to that, i don't know, 37% or 500,000 or something. what we had been talking about two weeks ago. maybe that's where they're headed. stocks did gain ground on optimism around the idea that we could reach some sort of a deal to overt the fiscal cliff. the dow closing more than 100 points higher after being down by more than that during the session. a swing like that hasn't h

raise revenue. >> anything short of marginal rates, here's the times today, obama's end to giving in. there's a big piece in the journal also about that quoting all these leading democrats saying the president has to hold firm this final they're tieing a whole four years to this, the way this goes, so goes the next four years. so far he's under enormous pressure to stand pat. and boehner i think is under even more enormous pressure because a lot of people see boehner if the house as the last best hope for a voiding what a lot of people think is a calamity. >> but leadership isn't calling the other side names. i think when you talk about the big four, boehner, reid, pelosi -- >> no, not them. >> obama is on the legislative branch. we have to give him a break on that. but there are four big people. those four people couldn't be more inept. >> it's boehner -- the mcconnell and pelosi and reid have nothing to do with what's going on between boehner and obama. >> to some extent that's true. >> reid is the guy that pushed obama to extend the bush tax rates in 2010. so reid would i suspect

the fiscal cliff" if the republicans would not raise tax rates. now republicans are pointing back to july 2011. this statement by president obama. >> yes, said give us $1.# trillion in additional revenues that could be accomplished without hiking tax rates, but could simply be accomplished by eliminating loopholes. eliminating deductions. and engaging in a tax reform process that could lowered rates generally while broadening the base. >> bret: the white house is saying it's out of context but not specifically how out of context. bring in the panel. steve hayes for "weekly standard." kirsten powers for daily beast. syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. charles? >> look, i love when the president says we need conceptual break through. meaning the republicans have to accept a hike in rates. what he means is a political surrender. because there is no economic reason why you cannot raise the money he wants raised. by doing it through eliminating deductions, inclusions and credit. number one as we saw he, himself, said so. a year-and-a-half ago. secondly, the same debt reduction c

the fiscal cliff are not hurting president obama's approval rating. it's now at 57%. that is the highest rating since may 2011 when navy seals killed osama bin laden in a raid. 42% of americans say the country is on the right track and majority think it's likely president obama will improve the economy. >>> time now 5:35. the national football league is willing to help the raiders build a new stadium in oakland. nfl commissioner says it's crucial the raiders improve their stadium situation and the nfl would help pay for a new one. now the team and the city have held negotiations about a new stadium but there is nothing concrete yet. commission ever cadel also said they could -- but that deal would have to be worked out between the two teams. >>> a big change may be coming to the national football league in the near future. coming up at 5:45 why some people want kickoffs to be eliminated and what they would replace it with. >>> new this morning november unemployment report was just released. it is a little better than expected. it shows the u.s. economy added 146,000 jobs. economi

. showed "a lack of business integrity." tomorrow, president obama will send his top negotiators to meet tith congressional leaders. they have only weeks now to head off a big tax increase for most americans. the income tax rates will jump automatically january 1. it will be such a shock to the system that it has been called the fiscal cliff. our coverage starts on the white house lawn tonight with major garrett. major. >> reporter: scott, the saesident said for the first time, there is a two-step process to averting the fiscal cliff. republicans must act now to prevent a tax increase for households earning less than $250,000. do that now, president obama said, and he and congress can work out the details of spending cuts later. ( applause ) before a crowd of supporters, the white house invited from the mid-atlantic region, president obama put congressional republicans on notice. >> it's too important for washington to screw this up. now is the time for us to work on what we all agreed to, which is lets keep middle class taxes low. that's what our economy needs. that's what the american

optimistic are african- americans, followed by hispanics. if you look at obama's job approval rating, it follows the same harsh divide. he is now enjoying an approval rating that he has not enjoyed since early in his term. 54% approve. if you look at the left side of the screen, this is polarized. 87% of republicans saying they disapprove, 90% of democrats say they approve. independents in the middle. we still have a polarized view of what has been going on, but there is no improvement, and that has largely come from independents. we also asked the country -- we asked the question of the you approve or disapprove -- we then asked that of congress, also. do you approve or disapprove the way congress is handling its job put 72% disapprove. in this current discussion, you can see some benefit to the white house. who do you trust more to develop solutions to meet the country plus economic challenges? the president as an advantage there over congressional republicans on economic issues. -- we thend when went to how do you see the economy performing over the next year, and over the next four y

zone. pain and greece have jobless rates of more than 25%. back at home, the question of who will be the nation's top diplomat in president obama's second term continues to intersect with complaints about how the administration handled the libya terror attack. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge with the continuing saga of what susan rice knew and when she knew it. >> since it's classified briefing on capitol hill two weeks ago, lawmakers stressed that ambassador susan rice had asked for the unclassified intelligence on the benghazi attack, including the controversial c.i.a. talking points, as well as classified information. now leading republican in the senate tells fox that the classified information included the president's daily brief. from the 16 intelligence agencies, the top secret document including evidence of terrorist involvement. >> she had access to the full presidential daily brief. on intelligence. so she was well informed. and knew that our intelligence community felt that there were ties to al-qaeda affiliates that were involved in the attacks. >> ear

now because president obama may be signaling that there is some flexibility in the battle over raising tax rates. here he is yesterday. >> i am ready and able and willing and excited to go ahead and get this issue resolved in a bipartisan fashion so that american families, american businesses have some certainty going into next year. and we can do it in a balanced and fair way, but our first job is to make sure the taxes on middle class families don't go up. martha: okay. so president obama is also saying that he wants to raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000, but that move would only generate about $85 billion a year. that is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of u.s. debt. and that number is about what the federal government spends in just eight days. so if he gets what he wants everybody over 250,000 pays more it's going to cover eight and a half days of the government spending amount and some would say the government spending problem. art laugher joins me now. architect of reagan tphopl i raeug reagannomics. in washington they have a lot of work to do.

evolving story. >>> also, the ceo of accounting giant recently met with president obama. he say miss other ceos in that meeting agreed the tax rates for the wealthy have to rise as part of any fiscal cliff deal. he joins us exclusively later on "the closing bell." stay tuned. [ male announcer ] this december, remember -- ♪ you can stay in and like something... ♪ [ car alarm deactivates ] ♪ ...or you can get out there with your family and actually like something. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is on, offering some of our best values of the year. this is the pursuit of perfection. you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... i'm with scottrade. >>> one of the most bizarre man hunts in recent memory is coming to an end in c

. oh, you're good. [ laughing ] good luck! [ male announcer ] priority mail flat rate boxes. online pricing starts at $5.15. only from the postal service. part of a whole new line of tablets from dell. it's changing the conversation. ♪ >>> back to "hardball." now to the "sideshow." first, after president obama and mitt romney got together for their post-election lunch yesterday, jon stewart reflected on the event with help from the '80s movie "coming to america." >> the event was actually closed to cameras, but we have some footage of governor romney arriving to the white house. i believe that's him there, and then he's getting out, and then -- the campaign is over so he doesn't have to pretend anymore. he can finally wear that serengeti lion sash he hadn't been wearing. >>> also we've heard from republicans who are ditching grover norquist, but how one of them freed himself without admitting he was backpedaling. from chris gibson, representative gibson signed the pledge as a candidate in 2010 for the 20th congressional district. regarding the pledge moving forward, congressman gi

fact checking information and let viewers rate political ads. which ad came out on top? for the democratic governor's association think obama care pants on fire and yosemite sam. here it is. >> not going to be a part of again socializing health care in the state of texas. ♪ >> the ipb, what that is will be a board that will tell you, bob, whether your level of productivity is worthy of receiving the rationed care that will be the result of obama care. ♪ >> anyway, the ad that got the most votes in the fail category was the one called join for fight to repeal obama care from conservative super pac restore america's voice. >>> finally this week in conspiracy world, it's texas congressman louie gohmert, and this sugar plum about how the obama administration is in cahoots with the muslim brotherhood. here he is in a radio interview with neocon frank gaffney. >> i think it almost makes a prima facie case when you look at the decisions made by this administration over the last couple of years or actually all four years, but you look at the decisions its made especially in the last

obama is saying let's go from 35% to the top earners, to 39.6%, same as it was under president clinton, the economy did well. it is more than just a drop in the bucket. just raising rates on people making over 250,000, would be a trillion deficit -- >> a trillion dollars, henry, is nothing to be sniffed at. some urged the party to extend the bush-era tax cuts, for the households that earn less than $250,000, to insure the taxes don't go up. who cares anyway? >> sure, there is a point in there. i might dispute the numbers. i would argue as the members of my party, i would argue that we have a spending problem. as opposed to a revenue problem. to my friend steve's remark, about the clinton tax rates, that sounds great to go back to 39%. and yes, that was a time of balanced budgets. but actually, those balanced budgets bear little resemblance to the tax rates. in the clinton years, in the latter clinton years, one, we were in peace time. and two, there was a capital gains tax cut as part of the 1996 package. and let's not forget, most importantly, there was a little small thing at that ti

and highlight what they call his small business tax hike. president obama spent his afternoon in northern virginia again pushing his case for raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year. >> i'm not going to sign any package that somehow prevents the top rate from going up for folks at the top 2%, but i do remain optimistic that we can get something done that is good for families like this one and that is good for the american economy. >> so i think it's safe to say at this point that the president actually isn't interested in a balanced agreement, he's not particularly interested in avoiding the fiscal cliff, and he's clearly not interested at all in cutting any spending. >> reporter: while democrats and republicans debate the size and specifics on tax increases, the two sides also remain apart on spending cuts, reforming entitlement programs like medicare and on the president's request to have greater power to raise the country's debt limit. but the news coming out of this one, "wall street journal" headlines saying that staff members from the president's team an

. there are two issues. one, how much is raised? the campaign was very clear. president obama had a specific proposal to raise the rates to the clinton-era rates on the top 2%. there was a majority of republicans on exit polls who agreed with that. second, on the $1.1 trillion in entitlement cuts, that's really a bad idea. because what he's doing that is approaching by slashing benefits rather than reforming the system. i'll give you an example. we have to save money in health care not just in medicare but health care but we pay more, more than most countries, and we get less. here's an example of a reform. right now in medicare, when we buy prescription drugs, we buy wholesale but we pay retail and the law requires us to pay retail. whereas in the v.a., in medicaid, we do price discounts when we're purchasing. if we did that in medicare that would save us $160 billion a year. so what i'd like to see is us save money on health care. we need to do that. but it's got to be through system reform. host: can you save enough money through system reform without looking at benefits? guest:

don't increase the rates as much as obama wants. you do some stuff on deductions and so-called loopholes that the republicans want. you create $1.2 trillion of revenue. you have a trillion dollars of savings from some stuff that happened already last year, do some stuff on defense, you could get the $4 trillion package that we need. it's not hard. you just have two sides that are so polarized, have dug themselves into such deep corners, and just seem unwilling to get out of them. >> it will get done. remember i told you that. >> from donnie's lips. >>> let's get to some of your charteds here because katty asked you what happens if we do go over the cliff. let's look at some of the real consequences. the uncertainty index is your first one. >> as i said, we don't know what happens, but there's a few indicators that give us a sense as to at least where people, business and the economy is at the moment. one interesting index that i came upon is called the uncertainty index. it's done by several economists where they attempt to incorporate the number of news stories talking about washington

the parties are too far apart. if president obama wants republicans to agree not only to allow the top tax rates to go up, but also put a new millionaire surtax, new stimulus funding, there's no way republicans do that without many entitlement reform. i think the democrats are prepared to allow, and that's why i just think that i agree with the congressman. i think that we are likely not to get a deal before the beginning of the year. >> but do you think it was a senator lindsey graham indicated there at the beginning, do you think it was a political calculation or is a political calculation on the part of the white house? >> well, i think there are political calculations being made by everybody in washington right now, but i don't think it's a secret that the democrats believe, in a lot of cases, that they have the upper hand in the p.r. war over this issue. >> perry, this is grover norquist just a few hours ago on "meet the press." take a listen. >> every republican who had impure thoughts about maybe i could raise taxes a little because the other guys will be reasonable have to

wrote, "i will not raise rates" in that letter he sent to president obama. but the problem is, we can agree or disagree with the president's position. i honestly take the president at his word. i do not believe there will be a deal here without some increase in tax rates for the top 2%. it doesn't have to be all of it, but some of it. i think the president has changed his tune a bit from the way he's handled some of these other negotiations. and take everything you say and turn it around. boehner and the republicans have to be aware of where obama's at in his own head and with his colleagues, which is no deal without some increase in rates, or we go over the cliff. >> let me just add one thing. when obama made that initial offer, we talked a little bit about how, you know, it was a wish list. it was ideological, whatever you want to say. i think it actually helped boehner in some respects because it gave him three or four things that he could then go back to his caucus and say, look, i moved obama off of this, this and this. and when boehner put his offer out there, you started to

" gut check. do people agree with the obama administration, this threat of going off the cliff if rates aren't reached. here's what nancy pelosi had to say about geithner's remarks. let me play it. >> if there is no agreement, then the fiscal cliff has to be dealt with. i didn't see it if they decent this, we do that. i saw it as a statement of fact. it's not a threat. it's a prediction. if there's no agreement, we go over the cliff. let's hope we can have an agreement. >> what do you make of the way she put it? it's not a threat. she said, listen, these are the facts. >> nice little economy you have there. nice little economy you have there. it would be a shame it if anything happened to it. that's not a threat. look, we have to start looking at what happens if we do, in fact, go over the so-called cliff, and what happens is, you know, one thing is we take a huge bite out of the deficit. we do it in a crude may, and there would be immediate attempts to fix it and fine-tune it and take some back. some would probably get through. if you actually want to look at it from a policy standpoin

obama extend the tax rates for a year action because he said this could hurt the economy. here we are again. we're not anywhere different than we were last year really. >> gregg: donna, dick durbin, the senate's number two democrat, said that social security is off the table because i'm going to quote him here -- it does not add a penny to our deficit. that's ludicrus. >> i think that i'm unable to comment because i think the context may have something to do with the sense of lock box and where this money actually comes from and where it sits in the meanwhile before it gets spent. but i also think it's awfully important to remember that in terms of republican cooperation, the president really has been i think very sincere about seeking that cooperation and initially speaker boehner i think expressed with great sincerity his interest in cooperation. i dare say that there has been a lot of biplay among both the senators and the house members on what that cooperation is going to look like. but i do think it's awfully important that we not come out of this process and mitt romney is payin

the president and lets the tax rates go up. president obama is meeting with business leaders about all of this right now and we expect to hear with him -- from him within the hour. alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> 7:16. florida republican senator marco rubio said republicans should take a strong stand against president obama's plan to raise taxes on upper income americans. last night, he was honored with the jack kemp leadership awards and rubio said he's against the president's plan because he says it will hurt businesses and workers. [ applause ] >> this isn't about a pledge. it isn't about protecting millionaires and billionaires. for me, it's about the fact that tax -- the tax increases he wants would fail to make a small dent in the debt but it would hurt middle-class businesses and the people who work for them. >> also, paul ryan was there. he delivered the keynote speech. he was last year's winner of the kemp leadership award. >>> controversial comedian katt williams says he's done. he's quitting standup comedy after another run-in with the law. >> i'm just gonna go ah

conservative congressman would back an agreement with president barack obama to raise rates on the rich that extend tax cuts for income below $250,000. with congress scrambling to avert the series of tax inincreasing and spending cuts due to cut in, should approve a deal ensuring that $98% of americans do not suffer a tax increase that endangers the economic recovery. that's from the national journal this morning. this is from the hill newspaper. that's where you lose us because we want to strengthen these programs, not let them die on the vine. again, that's from "the hill" newspaper. dixie is a republican in clinton, mississippi. what do you think? caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i think it is a surprise to me, and i cannot help but wonder why all the talk about increasing taxes, making cuts, and we need cuts, why the welfare is never addressed. we have people who are living like millionaires from welfare. they get free food, they get free housing, they get free schooling, they get -- the children get lunches two times a day at school. and they get all kind of b